Switching to Mac, Part 2
It’s been a while since my first post about switching (also available from Blogcritics.org) and since then some changes have been made. Specifically, I’ve switched my RSS reading from Vienna to Safari as recommended by henk, commenter #6 in the Blogcritics post. It took a good Google search to figure out how to do it because Safari doesn’t import OPML files. The basic process is as follows:
- Export your feeds from your preferred reader into an OPML file
- Install Mozilla Firefox (if not already installed)
- Install the Sage RSS Plugin for Firefox and import your OPML file
- Export your Firefox bookmarks and import them into Safari
- Move the bookmarks from the Safe Feeds folder to wherever you want them in Safari
- Open all feeds in a new window so that they will be recognized as feeds, if that doesn’t happen you can edit the address and replace http:// with feed:// (I had to do that for a few of them
Now that my RSS reading and web browser are one and the same, I can say that my productivity has once again increased by switching to Mac OS. It is important to keep an open mind during these types of transitions, especially where technology is concerned. The fact that I have always used a seperate interface or application for my RSS reading in the past, does not mean that I must use one in the future. Thankfully, Apple has designed the RSS reading in Safari in such a way that casual news and blog addicts like myself can stay up-to-date while doing our normal surfing.
In addition to making the full Safari switch, I have also transitioned the 3 remaining employees at my office to Mac Minis. Part 3 in this series will describe what was necessary to stage these new machines so they could be used by our employees. I’ll give you a hint; not much.
